Newsletter Xagena

Golimumab could be an effective and safe therapy for the management of patients with uveitis previously treated with other anti-TNF-alpha drugs

The aim of a study was to assess the clinical response to Golimumab ( Simponi ) in patients with non-infectious uveitis from a single centre that had previously been treated with other anti-TNF-alpha drugs.

A retrospective chart review was carried out of patients with immune-mediated uveitis refractory to standard synthetic immunosuppressive drugs who were treated with Golimumab at Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander ( Spain ).
Patients were included in this study if they had previously been treated with other anti-TNF-alpha therapy.

A literature review of patients with immune-mediated uveitis undergoing Golimumab therapy was conducted.

Three patients ( 2 men and 1 woman ) were included in this study. Two of them were refractory to other anti-TNF-alpha drugs. The median age of patients was 26 years ( range 20-42 ).
Uveitis was bilateral in two patients. The underlying diseases were uveitis associated with HLA-B27 and psoriasis in one case and sarcoidosis in the other two cases.

Improvement of the main ocular parameters following Golimumab therapy was achieved in all cases.

After a median follow-up of 3 ( range 1-9 ) months using Golimumab therapy, none of the patients had experienced new relapses of uveitis.

None of them had side effects during treatment with this drug.

A literature review disclosed that the observations were in keeping with other reports that showed good response to Golimumab in 13 of 16 patients with immune-mediated uveitis refractory to other biologic agents.

In conclusion, although the follow-up was too short in the series, Golimumab could be an effective and safe therapy for the management of patients with uveitis previously treated with other anti-TNF-alpha drugs. ( Xagena )